Scalper



SCALPER Filed Aug. 17, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Sept. 25, 1928.

J. J. vARUsKY s cALPER Filed Aug. 17, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jp J. ifa/'wij Sept, 25, 1928. 1,685,512 J. J. vARUsKY scmmsrzv Filed Aug. 17, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Sept. 25, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J'. VARUSKY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO CARTER-MAYHEW MANUFACTURING C O., OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTLA CORPORATION 0F MEINE- SOTA.

,SCALPEIL -Application led August 17, 1927. y Serial No. 213,518.

This invention relates to scalpers of the type disclosed and claimed in the prior Carter Patents Nos. 1,568,267, of date January 5, 1926, and 1,620,439, of March 8, 1927. In the scalpers of the said Carter patents and in this improved scalper, a coarse mesh endless traveling screen, preferably in the form of a cylindrical drum' mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis, is employed, and the function o1 said screen in1 the handling of grain is to remove from the grain foreign materials such as sticks, pieces of binding twine, straw, pieces of paper, bark, leaves, twigs and the like, and most of which have at least two dimensions that are less than the openings in the screen. The openings in the screen are so large that good grain will freely 1pass therethrough.

n all of these scalpers, separation of the long foreign materials, such as noted, from the grain, requires a more rapid movement of the screen than of the grain and, hence, there is provided retarding means which intercepts the free flow of the grain and causes the same to bank u in more or less compact condition against t e inner-upwardly moving portion of the screen. The bales or other devices for retarding the flow of the grain through the screen, of course, cause a corresponding slowing up of the separating or screening action. I have found, however, that the necessity for this ret-arding action may be reduced to a minimum and the most eilicient scalping action can be produced by maintaining the top of the grain line between the feed hopper and the scalping screen at the-highest possible point on the periphery of the screen', without overflowing the top and varying the -thickness of the stream of grain by an adjustment of the lowerl point of delivery tothe screen. This provides a minimum distance for the scalpings to be carried on the vscreen surface and, as a result, not only the long dimension scalpings, but foreign materials of all three dimensions smaller thanthe meshes of the screen, such as chunks of coal, for example, will usually be carried over and discharged as scalpings. The greater the distance between the grain line and the point of discharge, the greater the danger of the scalpings, that have been u -ended and separated outI of the mass, falling back through the screen and, consequently, passing out with the clean grain.

As an important feature, I provide an adjustable delivery deck, which receives the grain from the hopper or source of supply and delivers the same yonto the upwardly moving surface of the rotary screen; and as a further highly important feature, I rovide automatic means for adjusting this elivery deck in accordance with any variation in the supply or rate of ow of the grain into the supply or feed hopper. Otherwise stated, if the normal or average supply of grain to the hopper is increased, the delivery end or edge of the-deck will be moved downward on the screen; and on the other hand, if said supply to the hopper be decreased, the'delivery edge of the deck will be moved upward on the screen. Throughout such adjustments, the upper line o the grain delivery r onto the screen will remain substantially (conlstant, irrespective of adjustments of the v As still another important feature, however, I provide the hopper with an adjustable gate by means of which the upper line of the grain flowing from the-hopper to the l screen ma be varied.- This latter noted adjustment 1s made highly im ortant because of the fact that different kin s of grain will have different angles o f re ose. For .example, the angle of repose o flax will be at a less angle to horizontal than will the angle of repose of wheat, and, on the other hand, the angle of repose of oats and barley will be at a greater `angle to the horizontal Vthan will the angle of repose of wheat. The ho per gate or lgrain-hne-adjusting device will beset manually and so that the upper line of the How of the Grain from the hopper to the screen may be adjusted properly to the highest tactical point of delivery to the screen.

TV e importance of the features and the operation of the devices above generally outlined will be more fully considered after first having described a commercial scalper in` Fig. 2 is a front to rear vertical section taken through the scalper on the line 2-2 F ig. 3 is a horizontal section taken approximately on the irregular line 3-3 of Fi 2, some parts being broken away.

gli the machine illustrated, the commingled grain, which may be assumed to be wheat containingmore or less of the foreign materials above referred to as scalpings,y is delivered b a spout 4, first into a hopper 5 and from tiience into a main feed or supply hopper 6. The auxiliary hopper 5 is contained in the upper portion of the main liopper 6 and, as shown, is suspended from the top'thereot' by coiled springs 7. The main hopper 6 is shown as supported on top of a casing 8, preferably of sheet metal. The

numeral 9 indicates a curved air conduit eir-v endcd through the lower rear portion of v the casing 8 below the yhopper 6. This conduit 9 forms no part of the present invention f charge (passage arrange with a rack 15 on said gate. The pinion. 14'. is on a transverse shaft 16 which may beadthe adjustable" delivery and need not be further considered except to note that it happens to afford the support forv a bracket 10iii which is journaled .a fula crum roller 11 on which is movably mounted in a general way in t ments. f, i l

The main hopper 6 is irovided with a'disto deliver onto the forwar portion of the deck 12, to wit: onto that portion of said deck that is forward of eintroductory stato the fulcrum 11; and said discharge passage is controlled by a sliding gate 13 shown as,l

made adjustable by a pinion 14 that meshes justed and secured by any well known means,

,such as generally employed in hopper-gate ;v adjusting devices.

Of course, any suitable j means may be provided for adjusting the said gate.

' At its rear edge, the delivery s 17 to par has short arms 2O that are pivotally connected to links 21, the upper ends of which latter are pivoted to trunnionsf22` secured fon the sides of the auxiliary hopper'5 and working freely through slots 23 in the sides of the casing 8. At vone end, the rock shaft 19 is shown as provided withA a `lever 24 having'a slotted segment 25, which', by a nutequipped bolt 26 may, under 'certain con# ditions hereinafter stated, betightenedto lock the deck 12 and auxiliary hopper in set positions. In the automatic action hereinafter described, said nut-equipped bolt 26 willbe loose so that it does not interfere with. movements of the delivery deck, auxiliary hopper and intermediate connections. For a purpose which will hereinafter appear,

,decky 12 vreferred to .deck 12 isA the rear portion of the deck 12 is pivotally connected to the rear ends ofiarms 27, the frontends of which are pivotally connected to the sides of the casing 8 at 28.

The endless moving screen, in the form of a horizontally disposed coarse mesh Woven wire cylinder or drum 29, has heads 30 that are secured to a transverse shaft 31 journaled in suitable bearings in the sides of the casing 8. This rotary screen 29 is located within the casing 8 in position to receive the grain g/ delivered from the deck 12 against its upwardly moving portion at the highest possible point practicable. shaft 31 at one en d is shown as provided with a pulley 32, by means of which the screen may be power-driven and constantly rotated in a counterclockwise direction in respect to Fig. 2. Within the rotary screen are ilow-retardinfr battle plates 33. These The and -aresecured to the drum heads 30. The

cylindrical rotary screen with these ybaffle plates is not herein broadly claimed, since the saine is disclosed and claimed in the prior Carter Patent #1,620,439. lSaid bafle plates, however, as a minor improved feature, are provided on their concave surfaces with longitudinal grain-retarding flanges 34. that. intercept the tlow of grain on those plates that are turned with their concave y surfaces upward.

To maintain close contactbetween lthe delivery edge of the delivery deck 12 and the exterior of the rotating screen, said deck is shown as provided with a iiexible flap 12a of rubber or any other suitable iiexible material. To afford easy access to the exterior of the roftating screen 29, the casing 8 is shown as pro- 'y vided with a hinged dooror cover section 8,

Below the screen 29. the casing 8 is provided with a hopper-like discharge spout 8b that receives the grain y, and with another hopperlike discharge spout 89 that receives the scalpings y. v

' Suf/mamy of opemh'on.

Figure 2 illustrates what may be treated as an average or medium flow of grain, assumed to be wheat. Under this assumed average fiow, there will be a slight accumulation of grain in the auxiliary hopper 5 and such depression of said hopper that the described connections between the same and the delivery deck'12 will set the lat-ter in the sitionindicated by full lines in Fig. 2.

adjustment of the gate 13, the upper line of the iiow of grain from the hopper 6 to the rotating screen 29 will be set substantially as shown, so that the scalpings will have only a short distance to travel over the top of the screen.

When the supply of grain into the auxiliary hopper is increased so as to cause a further accumulation within the hopper 5, the latter will be moved downward farther than shown in Fig. 2 and will thereby cause the delivery deck l2 to be adjusted substantially to the position shown by dotted lines in F ig. 2 so that the stream of grain of increased depth then flowing to the screen will be delivered against the screen at a` lower point without, however, changing the lpoint of delivery of the upper portion of said screen. If, on the other hand, the flow of grain to the hopper should be decreased from that illustrated in Fig. 2, the accumulation in the auxiliary hopper 5 will be reduced and the said hopper, under the action of the springs 7, will be raised so as to cause the delivery end of the deck 12 to move further upward on the screen than illustrated by full lines in Fig. 2

Under the above noted automatic adjust ments of the delivery deck, the links 27 counterclockwise direction, the baille plates 33 will retard the flow of the grain through the upper portion of the screen and, as be fore' stated, will cause the same to bank up in more or less compact condition against the inner surface of said screen so as to give the screen a chance to act upon the scalpings and l to remove the same from the stream of grain.

Otherwise stated, the baille plates serve as an 1 efficient means for retarding the liow of the grain through the screen to such an extent "that its movement will be slower in lineal measurement than is the rotarytravel of said screen.

Y In the above described machine, the scalpi v ing capacity of the screen is 'varied automatically in accordance with variations in the supplly of ain to the hopper, and this is acishe by automatic adjustments given tothe delivery deck under an action produced by variations in'Y the supply of grain Vmined for the most eflicient to the ho per and while maintaining approximate y a constant line of delivery ofthe v upper portion of the grain to the screen, and

which upper line of delivery of the grain, while adjustable, may be fixed or predeterscalping of any particular kind of grain.

In the' operation of a modern Hour mill, the iiow of grain frequently shuts olii' completely. `This would also frequently happen where scalpers are installed to scalp the grain as it is unloaded from cars. In` the operation of the above described machine, under such conditions, When the supply of grain dwindles away or reaches nil, the upper'edge of the delivery deck will be raised to such a high point on the screen that the scalpings remaining on the screen after the supply of grain'thereto has been cut ofi` will be carried over by the screen and not permitted to reunite with the grain. The automatic adjustment of the delivery deck reduces to such an extent the required retardation or backing up of the grain against the screen 'that it is not necessary to have a gate or any other retarding means below the screen, and it also gives the machine a maximum scalping efficiency and permits the grain to be delivered throulh the screen at a maximum rate of speed, t ereby increasing t-he capacity of the machine or the amount of grain that can be run through the screen in any unit of time'.

Sometimes in the scalping of grain and especially when the su ply to the hopper is constant, it may be-esirable to lock or set the auxiliary hopper and delivery deck in predetermined position, and this may be readily accomplished by tightening the nutequipped bolt 26, thereby locking the lever 24 and the intermediate connections between the auxiliary hopper and deck against movement.

The term ho per is hereinv used in a broad and libera sense to include any suitable container for the grain to be delivered to the screen. kThe term delivery deck is herein used in a broad and liberal sensefto A l include any suitable device for receiving the rain from the supply means and for deivering the same to the screen.

What I claim is: v'

1. A scalping machine comprising an endless travelling scalping screen, a su ply hopper, a delive eck Vreceivin rom said opper and de ivering a ainst t e u wardly moving portion of sai screen, said deck being adjustable for varying the depth of flow from the angle of repose to different points on said screen, and automatic means for adjustin said deck in accordance with the flow of t e stock.

2. A seal ing machine comprising an endless trave ing scalping screen, a supply hopper, a delivery deck receiving from said hopper and delivering against the' u wardl moving portion of said screen,sa1d dec being adjustable for varying the depth of flow from the angle of repose to different points on said screen, and means subject to the flow of stock into said hopper and having connections to said delivery deck for adjusting the latter and arran ed to raise the delivery edge of said dec under decreasing supply of stock and to lower the vdelivery yedge of said deck under increasing supply of stock.

iow of stock and having connections to said deck for vertically adjusting the latter and arranged to raise the delivery edge of said deck under decreasing-supply of stock and to lower the delivery edge of said deck under increasing supply of stock.

4. In a scalping machine, the combination with a main hopper and an Aauxiliary hopper yieldingly suspendedA for delivery thereto, of a drum-like rotary screen, a delivery deck receiving from said main hopper stermediate position.

and mounted for adjustments to vary the depth of iow from the angle of repose to different points on said screen, anda conlnection between said auxiliary hopper and,

deck arranged tocause the deliveryedge of said deck to lower when said auxiliary hopper is depressed, and conversely, to cause -the delivery edge of said deck to rise whenl said auxiliary hopper is raised from an in- 5. The structure delined in claim 4 in which said connections between said auxiliary'hopper and deck include a rock shaft with arms, certain of which are connected t0 said deck and certain of which are directly connected to said auxiliary hopper.

6. The structure defined in claim 4 in which said connections between said auxiliary hopper, and deck include a rock shaft with arms, certain of which are connected to said deck and certain of which are directly connected to said auxiliary hopper, and other links. connected to said deck for imparting edgewise movement thereto when said deck is given angularl adjustments.

. 7. A scalping machine comprising a rotar scalping screen, a supply hopper, and a dyelivery deck receiving from said hopper and delivering against the upwardly moving ortion of said screen, said deck being adjustable for varying the depth oi the flow from the angle of repose to diierent points on said screen, said hopper having an adjustable gate for variably determining the upper line of flow of grain from said hopper to said screen. A

8. The structure defined in claim 2 in which said hopper has an adjustable gate forvariably determining the upper line of flow of grain' from said hopper to said screen.

In testimony whereof I aiia; my signature. v

JOHN J. VARUSKY. 

